Greece has challenged NATO and its allies, not Türkiye, by locking its air defense systems on Turkish jets carrying out a NATO reconnaissance mission, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.
The Greek air defense system's harassment of Turkish jets is a “hostile act,” the president said ahead of a celebration concert for the centenary of Türkiye's Victory Day at the presidential complex in Ankara.
Greek surface-to-air missiles locked on to Turkish F-16 fighter jets carrying out a reconnaissance mission in international airspace, it was reported on Sunday. The F-16s were at an altitude of 10,000 feet to the west of Greece’s Rhodes island when the Russian-made S-300’s target tracking radar locked on.
Last week, Türkiye summoned the Greek military attache and filed a complaint with NATO after Greek F-16s harassed Turkish F-16s that were conducting a mission for the alliance.
Greece rejected the Turkish version of events. The Defense Ministry said five Turkish jets appeared without prior notification to accompany a flight of U.S. B-52 bombers – which hadn’t been due to have a fighter escort – through an area subject to Greek flight control. “Greece is not our political, economic or military equivalent or interlocutor,” Erdogan added. “Establishing bases on Aegean islands by Greece does not hold any importance for Türkiye,” he said.
Although both NATO members, Türkiye and Greece have decades-old disputes over an array of issues, including territorial claims in the Aegean Sea and disputes over the airspace there.
Tensions flared in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in areas of the Mediterranean Sea where Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration claim exclusive economic zones, leading to a naval standoff.
Türkiye has accused Greece of violating international agreements by militarizing islands in the Aegean Sea. But, Athens says it needs to defend the islands – many of which lie close to Türkiye's coast.
The president further said that he is curious about the United States' response to the Greek air defense system's harassment of Turkish jets.